This Size Is Okay, Too
by lencestyay
Summary: Rin accidentally shrinks Len, and he meets mini-Kaito. Rating is for suggestiveness in much later chapters. Shounen-ai, KaitoxLen.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters mentioned in this story, and all of the Benzene references are from the Benzene series of songs by Owata-P.

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"Lunch, Len!" Rin called up the stairs to her brother, hurrying back into the kitchen as soon as she knew her voice had reached him.

"I'll be right there!" He yelled back, reaching for a shirt as he stood from his desk and thin pile of homework sheets. Downstairs, Rin grinned evilly, pulling a tiny bottle from her lab coat pocket and dousing Len's food in the liquid it contained. She had secretly been experimenting on a formula to boost her tiny brother's size, and if it worked on him, it would work on her. She was sick of everyone being taller than her! Just after she had stuffed the bottle back into her pocket, Len slid into the room on the floor tiles with his socks and dropped himself into a chair at the table.

"Be sure that you eat it all, Len-kun. You're too skinny!" Rin scolded, and Len pouted.

"But you made too much! I can't eat it all!"

"Oh, I think you'll be able to," Rin whispered under her breath as the blonde boy turned to his plate, frowning. Gingerly, he reached for a heavily buttered triangle of toasted cheese sandwich and slowly brought it to his lips, opening his mouth slightly and biting off a corner. Crumbs fell to his shirt and stuck to his chin.

"Y-yummy, Rin-chan..." He mumbled, his eyes widening as he swallowed.

"Glad you like it." Rin smiled and took her seat across from him at the table, picking up her own sandwich and chomping out of the middle as she watched him jam as much food as he could into his mouth. She needed him to eat all of his food for her experiment to work, so she had added just a dash of his favorite flavor in an ultra-concentrated form.

"How come it tastes like bananas, Rin?" Len asked through gulps.

"I don't know, just finish it." Rin smiled wistfully as she imagined how awesome her brother would look in a few minutes. Finally, he swallowed the last bite and sighed happily.

"I shouldn't have eaten so much," Len suddenly groaned, frowning and gripping the edge of the table, his cheeks tinted green. His stomach gave a lurch and he squeezed his eyes shut. "Did you put something weird in this?" He moaned, his arms moving to hug his stomach tightly. He felt as if he were going to explode or if his guts were going to seep out through his skin.

"Nothing particularly remarkable..." Rin grinned, hoping this would be one of her few successful experiments. It was looking to turn out that way. But then, to her complete astonishment, he seemed to vanish right into the air. It was as though he were water vapor being sucked into a light source.

Len wanted to scream, but he dared not open his mouth for fear of puking. He felt as though he were falling through twelve dimensions, air whipping at his body, blowing his hair wildly. But where was the impact?

_There_ was the impact. He hit hard onto the thin, badly stuffed pillow that topped the kitchen chair, the wind knocked out of him as he choked slightly. But none of his bones seemed to be broken, luckily. If he had fallen a few inches further to the left, there was no doubt he would be dead as a wet, squishy sponge. One that had been carelessly tossed onto the cold tiles covering the ground.

"Len?!" He heard his sister's yell. It ripped through his head and made him cry out in agony. Her now-huge feet stomped down next to the chair he was sprawled in and she snatched him up between her index finger and thumb that were way bigger than they should have been. He blinked, not sure if he was hallucinating. She ran upstairs and slammed the door to her lab after slipping inside. Giant-Rin dropped Len onto a dusty chemistry book and crouched down so that their faces were level. She stared at him until he finally had to say something.

"What have you done _this_ time?" Len shouted up to his sister, his stomachache mostly worn off.

"It didn't work right!" Rin whisper-cried, frowning confusedly. "I guess I was wrong with my assumptions on your size modification, it should be a simple fix. Just stay here while I re-calculate."

"As if I have a choice..." The miniscule blonde grumbled, looking over his shoulder to glance out the lab window. Rin tried her experiments on him all the time. He was used to it by now, but ones like this that went especially wrong were the worst. Sometimes she couldn't fix it for days, even weeks, and he was stuck in whatever form he had taken. One time, she had actually _turned him into a cat_, and he had spent a week and a half trying to ward off the sexual advances of his black kitten, Paradichlorobenzene. His peculiar name had come from his odd scent. When Len had picked him up in the pet shop, he reeked of mothballs.

_Speak of the devil,_ Len smiled when he saw the lab door creak open and a tiny black paw step inside the room.

"Benzene!" He called the creature's nickname, standing on top of the book, wobbling, rather, and waving to catch the animal's attention. Finally, he was noticed, and the cat happily bounded over to his mysteriously shrunken master, nearly knocking over some bottle Rin had precariously placed on the edge of the table as he scrambled to the book. The round container wobbled on the edge, but seemed to steady itself, so Len forgot about it.

The kitten rubbed its cheek against Len's entire body, purring and shaking him with the equivalent force of a strong earthquake. Len chuckled and rubbed behind Benzene's ears, causing the purring's intensity to increase. Benzene used his damp, cold nose to wrestle Len down onto the dusty surface of the book, nuzzling his neck and stomach, still purring. Neither had forgotten the incident with Kitty-Len, and Benzene tried hard not to bury the memory of his precious intimate moments with his beloved master, though Len felt the opposite.

"Hey, Benzene, you seem to be enjoying me at this size. How come?" Len smiled, knowing he obviously wouldn't get an answer. It was fun to ask the animal questions, even if he did seem like a lunatic. He sighed, very content now that he had such _sophisticated_ company, and turned his entire body to the window. It was wide open, and he could feel a light spring breeze passing by. It carried the tantalizing scent of flowers and fresh cut grass, such a contrast to the lab smells of disinfectant and some new chemical Rin called antichlorobenzene, and of course Paradichlorobenzene's unique stench. It always stuck to him, even after multiple baths. The above mentioned kitten curled up into a cozy ball and Len gratefully laid against him, marvelling at how unbelievably soft his fur was.

"Damn!" Rin suddenly screamed, yanking him from his sleepy, comfortable haze and smacking him with a sizeable headache.

"Gyah! What's so bad that you had to pour ICEE on my brain and hit me with Thor's hammer for?!" Len cried angrily.

"Your dumb cat knocked over my only supply of size modification serum!" She growled in a whisper, holding up two fingers dripping with a viscous, transparent goo, the one that had been in the bottle on the edge of the table. It looked a lot like a soupy orange marmalade, but not orange. _Coconut, maybe,_ Len found himself thinking.

"And that's the stuff you need to change me back?"

"Yeah. It's all contaminated with dust and dirt now."

"Don't be mean to my kitty-cat about it," Len cooed, scratching Benzene's neck and pouting. "He didn't mean to, he was just excited to see me. Can't you just make some more?"

"Gah! You idiot!" The only female in the room hollered, rushing towards Benzene. "This is all Paradichlorobenzene's fault!" She refused to use the shortened version of his name. The little black cat jumped up and hissed, protectively snatching a very startled Len up by his shirt and leaping from the table, dodging Rin's feet as he skillfully maneuvered his way out of the room. But he didn't stop there, he dashed down the stairs and out the front door, not slowing or stopping. Len squirmed and struggled, yelling for release. He and Rin lived on a large piece of land, mostly grass, that went on for about an acre and a half on each side. In the direction they were headed was a shallow, bubbly brook that Len sometimes fished in during the summer. Since he was now about the height of a Mandarin orange, he hated to think how long it would take to get back if Benzene were to drop him somewhere.

"Benzene, take me back!" He shouted, clawing upwards at the cat's mouth that held his t-shirt in a firm grip. Still, the cat ran on. "No! Back to the _house_, Benzene! _House_!"

Soon, Len gave up on making his cat return, though. He unhappily let himself be carried in this demeaning position by his own pet. It was starting to get uncomfortable, too, and he _hmphed_ to let his captor know that he was not pleased. Benzene ignored him, continuing to run with his master in his mouth. Len shivered, the cat was breathing right down his neck, and he could feel tiny droplets of condensation form on his back. The dried-out, yellowed grass tickled at his cheeks, and all he could smell when he took a deep breath was mothballs, even though he was surrounded by fresh air.

After far too long, Len finally felt Benzene slowing to a soft pad through the much fresher grass that was nearer to the cool shadow of the thick forest on the brook side of the property. It wasn't crunchy and dry and scratchy because it hadn't been burned by the sun all day for the entire season. Len sighed gratefully as Benzene dropped him to the ground, and they both stretched simultaneously.

"Gyah, Benzene, you took me all the way out here?" Len whistled. They were at the furthest corner of their land, and the cat had run almost the whole way. "I guess this is payback for me calling you fat the other day, huh?" The blonde boy chuckled, turning from his neighbor's distant home back to his cat. The animal had laid down in the grass and was looking up at him with a smile in his eyes.

_'You're safe now, Master. I saved you from that crazy thing. Are you pleased?'_ he seemed to ask for approval as he yawned, wanting to sleep. Len looked over his shoulder at the loudly babbling brook. The water was clear, and he could see tiny fish wriggling about under the surface of the water. He was surprised for a moment that the fish hadn't fled when they heard him coming, but then remembered how little he was.

There were ways back, weren't there? Rin might even come looking for him. He smiled.

"Yes, Paradichlorobenzene, I _am_ pleased," Len sighed, flopping down onto his back, leaning against Benzene's stomach. It moved up and down steadily as the cat snored, already deep into his cat nap. Len glanced upwards around them, staring up at the glistening foliage on the trees that were high, high above. Everything seemed so much _cooler_ when you saw it from a different perspective. He might not even glance twice at the beautiful plant life this forest boasted has he come out here under normal circumstances. Then, he remembered the homework problem he had been having an awful time with earlier. He hated riddles. Maybe he just had to step back and look at it from a different perspective? Maybe that was how you jumped all of life's silly little hurdles, how you cleared each level. _Thanks, Rin..._ He smiled and thought, tucking his arms behind his head as he drifted to dreamworld, ready to once again meet up with his cat.

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Too many references to Benzene, right? Yeah...


	2. Chapter 2

"Ow!" Len suddenly awoke as his head hit the ground unexpectedly, jolting him from his peaceful cat nap. _Did Benzene leave?_ He wondered as he sat up slowly. The last thing he remembered was falling asleep on his cat's furry belly as it moved up and down peacefully. Looking around, he realized that they had been asleep much longer than he expected. The sky was becoming dark already, and the moon was already watching him from high above. He also discovered the reason why the kitten had run off unexpectedly. Two armed guards stood on either side of his body, staring down at him.

In unison, the two large men reached down and each grabbed a strong hold on one of his arms. He cried out as they squeezed a bit too tight, yanking him to his feet.

"You know the rules, kid. You're out of boundaries." One of them grumbled in a no-nonsense manner. He seemed rude and definitely not the kind of person you would like to be waken up by.

"How'd you even cross the river?" The other asked curiously in a kinder voice. "Well, you're lucky that we found you, huh? At least you won't get in even more trouble for being out after curfew." The guards began dragging him towards the bank of the brook.

"What are you talking about?" Len frowned. "Who are you?"

"Oh, so we've stumbled across an idiot?" The first one grumped under his breath, expecting Len not to hear.

"Hey! I'm not-" Then he recalled the events leading up to his snooze in the grass. Rin had shrunken him, and these two men seemed roughly proportionate to his own size. The blonde bit his tongue to keep from screaming, then quickly considered the possibilities at hand, or at least the ones he could come up with:

A) The serum Rin created had worn off, and he was regularly sized again.

Len glanced over at the brook that was still a giant river. Possibility A was definitely out.

B) Rin had shrunken other people.

These two men didn't look familiar, and Len recalled Benzene spilling the last of her secret ingredient. Possibility B seemed disproven.

C) There was a civilization of tiny people that lived in his yard.

The boy couldn't think of anything to kill this theory, other than how incredibly unlikely it was. Also, he was out of ideas, his arms hurt, and he had a slight sunburn that was seriously annoying the hell out of him.

Okay. There was a civilization of tiny people in his yard.

"Nevermind..." Len murmured. The more laid-back of the two guards chuckled, also having heard the grumpy man's fail at a whispered comment.

"It's alright, kid, we'll take you back across."

"Why?" Both guards stared at him as though he had stripped naked right in front of them. Then they both began to laugh hysterically, even the mean one, though his was more taunting and ridiculing. The nice one had a loud, infectious chortle, and he held his stomach with his free arm like Len had just told him the funniest joke he's ever heard. Eventually, of course, the laughter wore off, and they finally reached the edge of the brook. Len stared down at the bubbling current of the cold water.

"Why are you still dragging me?" He asked nervously.

"We can't take the chance that you'll run off and escape," The mean one growled. "And you've got to get back, anyway."

"Right... I don't live on the other side, though. Could you just let me go so I can get home?" _Or die waiting for Rin to come find me_, Len added the comment in his mind.

"You're funny, kid," The second guard said, trying to hide a smile.

"I really live on this side." Len frowned, blushing a bit. They were making him feel like a moron, even though he knew he had every right to not know.

"Kid, no one lives on this side. You would be crushed!" Now both men seemed genuinely concerned, stopping at the edge of the river and not carrying on in their journey with him. "Are you crazy?"

"No, I've gotta stay on this side. My sister should come and find me soon." Len tried to tug his arms from their grips, but they only tightened.

A loud thumping noise had been rising in volume for a time, and it finally become noticeable. Len studied the ground carefully, confused at why it was wobbling. Steady hits to the ground, he could feel the immense vibrations as the source drew gradually closer.

"Dammit!" Both guards cried, plunging into the freezing water and pulling a startled Len with them. Not having enough time to take a breath, he screamed, but the noise was turned to bubbles and chokes as his face was submerged. The two men swam hurriedly towards a slick, moss-covered rock near the halfway point of the river, dragging Len's air-deprived body with them and tossing him over the boulder to the other side. They followed soon after, and one held a hand over Len's mouth as he coughed and spluttered, gasping for dry air.

"Shh! She won't step on us here!" Slowly, Len looked upwards, shoving his sopping, dripping wet hair from his eyes. It was heavy and glistening in the last stripes of day. He searched the dim horizon carefully for what the men were so afraid of. Then, he spotted it, or rather, _her._

"Rin!" He screamed, clawing his way to the top of the slippery rock and out of the guards' grips. She didn't hear, so he yelled louder. "RIN!" The guards snatched him back down, grabbing his wrists and squeezing them.

"Are you stupid?!"

"That's my sister! Let me go!" Len wriggled his way out of their fists again, but was immediately grabbed back and held just under the water. Rin's footsteps receded, and they let him bob back to the surface. He choked and coughed, water dripping from his nose and flowing from his mouth that had been wide open in the midst of a scream. Still, though, the men held him behind the stone, only just over the rippling, rashing surface of the water. When Rin's giant footsteps were completely gone, they let him scramble back to the peak of the rock. His sister was long gone, of course. He groaned and slid back down the hard island worn smooth by years of crashing liquid. Len gave another great cough and the guards lead him to the surface, amazed at how stupid he had been. The blonde, of course, felt the same way about them.

He was so caught up in his fury that he barely noticed the rest of their trek. When they reached what Len assumed was their tiny city, he was baffled. How had he never noticed any of this before?! The place was huge, and he could feel hundreds of sets of eyes on his neck as his soaked body was dragged through the middle of the main road. He left puddles in the dry dirt where his feet made dragging marks. Len could feel his cheeks turn a warm red as his toes scuffed in the dirt and pebbles. He nearly sighed with relief when most of the brightly-lit town was behind him, but held his breath when he felt himself being carried up the shiny stone steps of the biggest building there; the castle.


End file.
